Barnstable's Off-Season Hidden Treasure

Sandy Neck is known to beach bums and fishermen alike: both can enjoy the unique opportunity to drive the beach with Cape Cod Bay riding shotgun.

But Sandy Neck takes on a different character in the off-season. The fishing rods and charcoal grills are nowhere to be seen. The beach is a desolate expanse of sand, rocks and the occasional sea gull or harbor seal. 

To put it simply, Sandy Neck returns to its natural state during the off-season. It is the Cape Cod of hundreds of years ago. 

This all dawned on me once I realized we had driven five miles on the beach without seeing another person-or trace thereof. Clearly it was not Fourth of July.

The plan was to hike the off road trails that zigzag through Sandy Neck’s maritime forests and sand dunes. My father and I would explore the interior areas known only to a tiny fraction of Barnstable’s population.

Upon arriving at trail five the steady northwest breeze that had blown all day, conveniently subsided to nothing more than a salty breath of air. With the breeze at my back and salt in my nose, I gazed up at the white sand dunes that loomed over the entrance to the trail. I then took what would be my first step of a six mile hike through some of the Cape’s most diverse ecosystems.

Thirty minutes into the hike and we were engulfed by a surprisingly thick pine forest. The place had a pleasant salty pine smell to it, and was unlike anywhere I had ever been.

The muffled sound of the waves enveloped me in an incredibly serene environment. How different this was from the Barnstable I had grown so accustom to. 

As we progressed, the landscape would shift from sand dunes to forest. It was as if good ole’ Cape Cod never made her mind up as to what she wanted this area to be.

Dotted throughout the interior were small wild cranberry bogs. The color of the bogs stood out amongst the brown backdrop like red wine spilt on a rug. It seemed as if the bogs occupied any low lying depression between sand dunes or pine trees. 

Game trails and deer prints crisscrossed their way around the bogs. Spooked by our presence, four whitetails scampered off into the brush. Deer were everywhere.

Pine needles eventually gave way to grains of sand as we neared the southern edge of the forest. The sun was low in the sky as I exited the pines by climbing a twenty foot sand dune. 

Atop that sand dune we enjoyed a panoramic view of Cape Cod Bay and Barnstable Harbor, which was undoubtedly the highlight of the hike.

To the south lay a white sea of wind whipped dunes and to the north, a deep green carpet of pine. It felt like I had just stepped from a rich forest into a barren desert.

South of the dunes the environment changed yet again. Below, the harbor’s vast marshland reached up to the very edge of the sand dunes. 

Camouflaged on the marshes’ edge were old dune shacks and cottages. Rounding my way past the shacks, I could not help but imagine what life must be like out here. The scene was like a page taken directly from Thoreau.

The sky held a pinkish orange hue by the time we arrived back at the beach. My father and I were the only two people on the seven mile stretch of sand, an opportunity that only exists during the off-season at Sandy Neck. 

The sun put on quite the show as we drove back west along the beach. In a few months time it will be difficult to find the space and solitude we had found that day. For now however, Sandy Neck offers a rare glimpse into the Cape Cod of the past.

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